much of it in reaction to harry reid's dismal statement. i got an e-mail with it all in caps, the market is coming in on these headlines from harry reid. this matters, every word they say matters and white house press secretary jay carney was on the defense today. he pointed out as he had done yesterday that the president spoke on the phone with senate majority leader harry reid and john boehner over the weekend. and besides carney says, the president has to talk directly to the american people. >> it is vitally important that ordinary americans actively engage in this debate because the outcome of these negotiations and the hopeful product of these negotiations are the product that we hope emerges from these negotiations will profoundly affect their lives. >> so is the president, the missing ingredient to really nailing down a fiscal cliff deal? could he end the drama right now if he stayed put in washington and held a series of face-to-face meetings with reid, mcconnell, boehner, and pelosi instead of his planned meetings this week with s